(Ottawa) Peter Hallward, a Canadian-born professor of philosophy at Middlesex University in London, UK, will speak in four cities across Canada beginning May 31 to mark the release of his latest book, Damming the Flood: Haiti, Aristide, and the Politics of Containment (Verso Books).
Damming the Flood is being welcomed as the first comprehensive and effective analysis of recent Haitian history as well as an insightful look into the future of the battered Caribbean country. It has won strong praise from such writers as Noam Chomsky and Tracy Kidder.
Kidder, author of the biography Mountains Beyond Mountains, writes, “...at long last [Damming the Flood] presents another side of a story that has been reported, almost universally, with stunning tendentiousness ... It ought to be required reading for every historian of the Americas and for every student of political science.”
Hallward received a PhD in philosophy from Yale University in 1997. He has published numerous texts analyzing current events in Haiti, including an interview with exiled Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide that was published in the February 22, 2007 London Review of Books. He was interviewed on CBC Radio One’s The Current on April 14, 2008.
In Damming the Flood, Hallward analyzes the role of foreign powers, including Canada, in the overthrow of Aristide and the other institutions of elected government in Haiti in February, 2004. He also examines the role of ngo’s in Haiti in supporting that overthrow.
There is a disquieting timeliness to Hallward’s speaking tour. At least six Haitians were killed in April at the hands of UN police forces and the Haitian National Police during sharp protests against soaring food prices that have left many Haitians hungry or starving. Many protestors called on UN military forces to leave Haiti for their failure to provide desperately-needed aid and relief to the Haitian poor and for shooting unarmed protesters.
The author argues that a militarized foreign intervention can never bring the aid and progress to Haiti that it so desperately needs.
Hallward will speak in the following cities:
Montreal, May 31; Ottawa, June 1; Toronto, June 2; Vancouver June 7.
In addition, he is a guest speaker at the conference in Vancouver June 2 to 7 of the Canadian Association of Latin American and Caribbean Studies.
For the Montreal and Ottawa dates, Hallward will share the stage with one of Haiti’s most prominent trade union leaders, CTH General Secretary Paul “Loulou” Chéry. For more details about the speaking tour, visit the website of the Canada Haiti Action Network.
The author is available for interviews. Contact information: Roger Annis (Vancouver): 778 858 5179Stuart Neatby (Ottawa): 613 293 9480John Dimond-Gibson (Toronto): 416 652 3104
This speaking tour is co-sponsored by Canada Haiti Action Network and Rabble.ca www.canadahaitiaction.cawww.rabble.ca
